


Page by Page

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-08
Updated: 2014-10-08
Packaged: 2018-02-20 08:15:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2421593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If all of that beauty, brutality, and banter had been living in his head all this time no wonder he created what he had.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Page by Page

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for the alphabet meme and [](http://agsmith01.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://agsmith01.livejournal.com/)**agsmith01** ’s prompts of **U is for undivided attention**.

“I can't believe we’re going to do this. Are we really doing this?”

“What's so wrong with it?”

“Well to quote Woody Allen, I’ve been reading on my own since I turned 40.”

“I know the inflections, where to place emphasis. It’s going to be an adventure.”

“I just think you wanna brag.”

“I don’t need this to brag.” He held up the finished manuscript.

“OK, then you wanna impress me.”

“I can't deny that. I always want to impress you.”

“So you’re going to read to me?” Erin asked. She leaned back on the bed, grabbing one of the pretzels out of the bowl in her lap.

“You love when I read to you.”

“Those books are different, David.”

“Oh trust me, this one has some of the good stuff in it too. Its not just darkness, you reminded me to add levity and sexiness. I listen to you when you talk, baby.”

“Sometimes…you listen to me when I talk sometimes.”

“I was listening when I was writing this story. Now I need you to listen. Can you do that for me?”

“You are so cute with the reverse psychology tricks, Mr. Star Profiler.”

“Erin…”

“Alright, alright, I'm gonna give you my undivided attention. I have a feeling if I don’t the only time I’ll get to read the book is when it comes out on the shelves. Give it to me; I'm ready.”

“You're ready?” Dave asked.

Erin nodded, getting comfortable on the bed. Dave opened up page one of his manuscript and looked at the first line. It was now or never. He needed her to love this…he wanted her to love it.

He wrote it for himself, the novel had been on his mind for years. But this had been a project Dave and Erin played with together. She loved talking about characters, scenarios, and possible cases. This was as much hers as it was his and it was time to share it.

“ _It was raining Friday morning at 6am_.” Dave read. “ _Parisi wasn’t overly fond of rain so he’d picked the wrong city to call his home. He sighed, climbing out of bed. There was no way to know that by the time he crawled back in, cloudy days would be the least of his problems_.”

***

“ _Relationships weren't his forte. He’d tried and failed more times than he cared to recall. It didn’t matter anyway; there was a small segment of the population who wouldn’t mind reminding him, frequently, of his shortcomings in that area. But she was different. He couldn’t help but think that as he thought of her smile_.

“ _She was different than all the others because he didn’t get to know her while in pursuit of sex. That’s when things got stupid…they’d even gotten dangerous once or twice. It wouldn’t be that way with her. She wouldn’t let it happen. She had no problem putting him in his place, holding him there until he cried Uncle_.

“ _It was sexy; it was fun. And he thought he might be falling in love with her. Bleaching his brain was a possibility and had even worked in the past. But Blythe Dresden wasn’t just any woman. The case had kicked his ass; the woman had stolen his heart. Who was it that said retirement from the FBI was going to be boring_?”

“Wow.” Erin said the word slowly; let it come from between her lips like a whistle.

“Are you serious?”

“I would never lie to you about something like that David.”

He’d been reading to her all day. They read in bed together for hours starting in early afternoon. It went on as Erin made them a great dinner. Dave managed to stop to eat but Erin got more of his gritty world along with her dessert.

They stopped for some after dessert-dessert; Dave didn’t like talking with his mouth full. Then there was an evening nap, which was only plausible when you had a lover. After that it was out on the deck in the soft spring drizzle for wine, cigarettes, and the last few chapters.

Erin couldn’t believe how vibrant the world he wrote was. The characters were full of life and color; she could see them all as she listened to his voice. Dave always had a hypnotic tone…that was how he seduced so many women. He seduced Erin all afternoon and it had nothing to do with getting her out of her clothes. She was truly stunned by how fantastic it was.

He was a great writer, at time had reached levels of brilliance that most true crime writers couldn’t fathom, but Erin wasn’t sure about this novel. She encouraged, she listened, and she sacrificed for it but that didn’t mean she had complete faith it would turn out as he wanted. All she knew was that Dave had to write it. It was taking over his brain and needed to come out. If all of that beauty, brutality, and banter had been living in his head all this time no wonder he created what he had.

“It’s utterly fantastic.” Erin smiled as he leaned forward to light her cigarette. This would be her last of the evening. “It was vibrant and witty and real. The characters were amazing, especially Blythe. I really loved the way they came to care for each other; it wasn’t clichéd in the least.

“Michael was so human…he had flaws. There were things about him that weren't pretty but they were true and actually made me like him even more. Of course that’s always the way it is with characters. I imagined you whenever you talked about Michael.”

“I imagined Pacino in the 90s maybe.” Dave said, drinking the rest of his wine. The bottle of Australian Shiraz was nearly gone so he decided to finish it off.

“So, who do you imagine when you think of Blythe?”

“Honestly?”

“That’s the way I like it Agent Rossi?”

“I imagine Jessica Lange, circa maybe 1986.”

“You have a thing for her don’t you?”

“She’s soft, elegant, eloquent, sexy…kinda like my woman. She can be a hard ass; no man will ever step on her. But when she surrenders that man knows he's the luckiest man in the world. And Mike isn’t stupid, well he isn’t that stupid. He knows Blythe is a once in a lifetime woman.”

“Does your publisher have the book yet?” Erin asked.

“I sent it to her on Thursday. I'm sure some interns are going over it now with a fine-toothed comb. I'm still finding things I might change here and there but I had to let it go. If I didn’t I would've found a way to keep it hidden forever.”

“It’s gonna be a bestseller.”

“You think?”

“I know. Al and Jessica are a bit too old for the main characters now but the movie rights won't be far behind. Its something you should probably think about.”

“I'm so not Hollywood.” Dave replied.

“But you’ve been ready for your close up for decades.” Erin said.

“You really think its good, baby?” he moved his hand across the table, resting it on hers.

“I do.” she couldn’t help the grin on her face. “I don’t even know what to say. I know you're a brilliant writer; I've read your work. But I have to admit that I wasn’t sure you'd be able to pull this off. Not because you weren't good but because writing a novel is not easy. You did it though and it’s amazing. Everyone is going to love it as much as I do.”

Dave leaned and kissed her. Erin caressed his face and kissed him again. It was time to finish the wine, cigarettes, and conversation. He would have to walk the dog; she wanted to hop in the shower. But those things would be quick tonight because they wanted to be back in each other’s arms.

They wanted to fall in love all over again just like Michael Parisi and Blythe Dresden. It took every fiber of her being not to jump his bones when he was reading her the two love scenes. One was slightly more explicit than Erin thought he’d ever write. And since she’d been with him for some years she knew it wasn’t just Michael and Blythe making love in those pages. Dave and Erin were all over that book. He definitely planned to write a series, so she wanted to help him with more material for future adventures.

***

  



End file.
